That grey whale bumping into your boat may be no fluke

On the B.C. coast, if a whale approaches your vessel, the operator is urged to put the motor in neutral and allow the whale to pass without touching itJim Darling
/ Special to the Sun

Grey whales that become habituated to visitors and tour boats in the breeding lagoons of Baja California in Mexico over the winter are getting equally friendly around unsuspecting pleasure craft off the B.C. coast during the summer.Jim Darling
/ Special to the Sun

There have been reports of grey whales approaching vessels, although it’s unknown whether the interactions can all be attributed to the same whale. Officials are investigating and comparing whale photographs.Jim Darling
/ Special to the Sun

A federal official on Wednesday confirmed at least four similar incidents in the past month in the Broken Group/Barkley Sound area, where whales and sport fishing boats are both found in large numbers this time of year. Photo:July 25, 2012,Jim Darling
/ Special to the Sun

Certain grey whales, known as "friendlies," including this one in Clayoquot Sound, are known to occasionally bump up against small vessels on the BC coast. The behaviour is learned with tourist vessels in the breeding lagoons of the Baja coast in Mexico.Jim Darling
/ Special to the Sun

They are known as “friendlies,” but at up to 15 metres and 30 tonnes they can also be downright scary.

Grey whales that become habituated to visitors and tour boats in the breeding lagoons of Baja California in Mexico over the winter are getting equally friendly around unsuspecting pleasure craft off the B.C. coast during the summer.

A shocked Port Alberni couple made the news this week when they produced video footage of a grey whale surfacing beneath their vessel while sport fishing in the Broken Group islands of Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

In fact, a federal official on Wednesday confirmed at least four similar incidents in the past month in the Broken Group/Barkley Sound area, where whales and sport fishing boats are both found in large numbers this time of year.

“It’s not a good situation,” said Paul Cottrell, marine mammal coordinator for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “You don’t want that to happen for the whale’s sake and for the people’s sake.”

There have also been reports of grey whales approaching vessels, although it’s unknown whether the interactions can all be attributed to the same whale. Officials are investigating and comparing whale photographs.

Jim Darling, a biologist who has extensively studied grey whales, said there are reports of “friendlies” every year or two in local waters and he has personally had a dozen or so encounters with them, including in Clayoquot Sound.

“The contact with the boat is usually very gentle and controlled, but can be exciting,” he says. “They will occasionally raise their body under the boat, lifting it a bit.”

He adds: “They pretty much always put it back down again.”

In Mexico, the grey whales routinely rub up against tour boats in breeding lagoons and are petted by tourists on the west coast of Baja.

“They’ve become habituated down there,” Cottrell said. “They’re migratory. And when they come up here, that’s not acceptable behaviour. We don’t want animals habituated to that.”

Darling said the trade-off is that the Baja experience causes countless thousands of tourists to love and care about whales.

Mary Britt Brown, a Cloverdale-area resident, has twice visited the grey whales in Baja, once in a large tour vessel and once in a small boat with just six people. “It was amazing, so incredible,” she said. “You’re out there ... and the whales actually come to the boat, usually the mothers and the babies. What an exhilarating experience. To touch them, wow. So cool.”

On the B.C. coast, if a whale approaches your vessel, the operator is urged to put the motor in neutral and allow the whale to pass without touching it, Cottrell said.

Darling noted whales have been known to close their mouths around outboards and pull boats backwards.

“To my knowledge they have never caused any damage or injury,” he said.

However, if people in the boat panic and try to move they will frighten the whale, he emphasized. “With a 30-tonne whale trying to escape, it is possible accidents will occur.”

Proposed new federal marine mammal regulations would make it an offence to approach within 100 metres of a whale, dolphin or porpoise. The new rules would also prohibit touching marine mammals, require reporting of any accidental contact, and prohibit aircraft from landing or taking off within half a nautical mile of marine mammals.

lpynn@vancouversun.com

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That grey whale bumping into your boat may be no fluke

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